8850>7870? price & specs?

[Ramjali]

I am not very well versed with GPUs so i need some answers questioned.

I was going to upgrade from my 5770. possibly to 7870.

Then i saw the specs of the next gen GPUs on the following link
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-gpu-oland-8800-radeon,17643.html

1. According to the AMD website, 7870 requires a 500w PSU with 1x PCI-e. But on retailer websites and reviews, they state 500w PSU with 2x PCI-e. Which one is true?
http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desktop/graphics/7000/7870/Pages/radeon-7870.aspx#2

2. Would it be possible to power the 7870 with 550w PSU with 1x PCI-e and 1x molex to PCI-e cable?

3. 8870 - $279 which is ~ £175
8850 - $199 which is ~ £125
Is this the the initial release price or will it be quite high till Nvidia release? If not, what will be the expected price? (I'm in the UK so pounds please)

4. According to the leaked spec the 8850 is cheaper than better than 7870 on almost all aspects. Is this true? If so, how does this convert in gaming aspect ie FPS?

5. When is the 8870/8850 expected to be released?

6. When will this leaked spec be confirmed?

7. Are these GPU a good jump from a 5770?
Currently running @ 1280x1024 res but sometimes i hook it up to "supposed" HD tv @1366x768. Might upgrade later.

8. What you do think the price will be around the end of march/start of april (of 7870/8850/8870)? I either buy a GPU now or at that time range.

Thank you for your time.
Sorry for long post.

 

[burntpizza]

We don't know anything about AMD HD R8XXX yet besides the mobile parts. Its all speculation; speculation that says there is going to be a huge jump next generation.


89XX is march ish, so 88XX should be April to May.


The launch will confirm the specs


HD 7870 will thrash HD 5770 as it is a GTX 580 equivalent. I think HD 7870 is faster than 6970 which is turn faster than HD 5870.


Radeon hd 7870 is overkill for 1366X768. It even owns 1080p


Since, you are pretty budget oriented, might as well get Radeon hd 7850 1 gb or 2 gb. Cheaper and still quite as effective.

 

[Ramjali]

We don't know anything about AMD HD R8XXX yet besides the mobile parts. Its all speculation; speculation that says there is going to be a huge jump next generation.


89XX is march ish, so 88XX should be April to May.


The launch will confirm the specs


HD 7870 will thrash HD 5770 as it is a GTX 580 equivalent. I think HD 7870 is faster than 6970 which is turn faster than HD 5870.


Radeon hd 7870 is overkill for 1366X768. It even owns 1080p


Since, you are pretty budget oriented, might as well get Radeon hd 7850 1 gb or 2 gb. Cheaper and still quite as effective.

I am looking to future-proof, thus i didn't chose 7850 as 7870 is fractionally more expensive.
Also the reason why i got a AMD system

 

[vrumor]

Future proofing is a myth. Every year there will be faster, cheaper and less power hungry tech. So itll be future proofed til the next gen. And so on and so forth.

 

[Guest]

the difference between the one 6 pin PCI and the tow six pin connections have to do with the partners overclocking, or wanting the customer to have the headroom to overclock. go by what is specified by the manufacturer's specs ie. two 6 pin power connections.

you can use a 4 pin molex to a 6 pin PCI adapter but that would depend if you have a quality PSU with sufficient amperage on the 12 volt rail.

as far as any speculation to the 8xxx series:
AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Specifications (Analysis)
but the actual specs/performance is a guessing game until its release and tested. though as far as pricing; i would expect the prices to be a premium until nvidia releases the 7xx series and much like the 7xxx/6xx releases; then AMD may drop prices to be competitive. but not until then and only IF nvidia has better price performance.

that won't be until Q2 2013 (or later) - there is no sense in waiting that long to see what may happen. any 7xxx card would be an upgrade over the 5770, even the 7750 in most instances.


go for it.

 

[rokrboy]

First thing,, 7870 is an awesome card and is worth the run for the money,,, u'll be really happy with ur buy...
8*** is just a whisper in the wind and until de hit the market we will never know what de are made up of or how de perform..

de will be definitely overpriced as der is no direct competitor from nvidia... remember amd wanted overambitious price for 7770 ... which was not worth it and brought down suddenly when equivalent nvidia card was released....


every year new cards come out,, better in every way than older ones,,,


7870 is a good coice,,, i would recommend buyin it,,, or wait till 8*** series releases and check hw the reviews are,,,

another good thing for waiting is when 8*** series releases 7870 price will be definitely low